Syrian Arab Army
- "Syrian Army" redirects here. For the former army of Syria, see History. For the pre-2022 rebel group, see Syrian Arab Army (2009–2022).
| Syrian Arab Army | |
|---|---|
| الْجَيْشُ الْعَرَبيُّ السُّورِيُّ | |
 Emblem of the Syrian Arab Army | |
| Founded | 1 August 1936 (original) |
| Country |
 Syria |
| Type | Army |
| Role | Land warfare |
| Size | 200,000 active (2023 est.) |
| Part of | Syrian Arab Armed Forces |
| Garrison/HQ | Damascus |
| Motto(s) | "حُمَاةَ الدِّيَارِ" (Guardians of the Homeland) |
| Black, Red, White | |
| Engagements | Republican insurgency in Syria |
| Commanders | |
| Commander-in-chief | Khalifa al-Malki |
| Minister of Defense | TBD |
| Chief of the General Staff | TBD |
| Insignia | |
| Flag |
 |
The Syrian Army, officially the Syrian Arab Army (Arabic: الْجَيْشُ الْعَرَبيُّ السُّورِيُّ, romanized: al-Jayš al-ʿArabī as-Sūrī) is the ground branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, the military of Syria since December 2022. It was formed on the basis of the former umbrella organization of Syrian opposition militias that fought the Syrian Civil War, along with defectors and captured elements from the former Syrian National Army, the military of the Second Syrian Republic from 2004 until 2022. The SAA is estimated to have 200,000 troops as of early 2023 and according to the Royal Intelligence Agency is in the process of reorganizing into a unified regular army after being created as an amalgamation of former insurgent forces and ISAF-trained Syrian National Army remnants.
The name "Syrian Arab Army" was also used for the Syrian ground forces between 1967 and 2004, the army of the first Syrian Arab Republic. Prior to that it was known as the Royal Syrian Army from 1936 until 1953, and then as the Syrian Army until 1967.
Background
History
Royal and Republican Syrian Army (1936–1967)
Historically, Syrians had been serving as soldiers in the army of the Ottoman Empire prior to Syria's independence. Syrian Arabs had served as soldiers in the Ottoman Army with Arabs being one of the major ethnic groups to make up the empire's military forces with Syrians serving in the army and other military branches. During the Great Arab Revolt, many Syrians rebelled against the Ottoman Empire seeking an independent Syrian nation and were supported by the future king Faisel of Syria who recieved support from Germany, Bulgaria, and Greece. Afyer the revolt had ended in 1938, the Kingdom of Syria would be established and all Syrian Arab militia fighters were organized into the Royal Syrian Army as part of the nation's formal military force. Germany would remain a supporter of Syria and helped advise, train, and equip its military both during and after Great War I and well into the Interwar period. By the 1940s, the Royal Syrian Army was using German uniforms and equipment such as the iconic Stahlhelm and other small arms and weapons.
Other nations also supported the Kingdom of Syria and its army such as Russia and Armenia who also sent weapons, uniforms, and other supplies to aid in arming their military and would bring Syria close to these countries as well. Often times, the Royal Syrian Army possessed a diverse collection of weapons and uniforms from Russian small arms to German steel helmets. Military traditions from Germany and Russia were also brought in to help with organizing and restructuring the military. Large quantities of weapons and equipment from the former Ottoman Army, including trucks and aircraft among other vehicles, were captured and later used by the royal army as well with the 1st Motorized Division being created in 1941 from trucks captured by retreating Ottoman forces and were maintained from captured and imported parts.
The 1953 Syrian revolution occurred on May 14 which brought into power Haydar al-Hassan, an officer of the army who was a supporter of the republican movement, who lead the revolution to a successful overthrow of the monarchy and established the First Syrian Republic. Haydar would then proclaim himself the first President of Syria and would institute new reforms, but maintained the pre-established ties towards European and Persian Gulf countries to solicit support for the armed forces now renamed the Syrian Armed Forces. The army would be weakened during the early years of the republic as a series of trials and purges were done to remove the army and the rest of the military of any sympathies towards the now defunct monarchy as well as to ensure that any ideology that went against the Hassan regime gained now traction in the army to prevent another coup.
Syrian Arab Army (1967–2004)
Following the 1967 Syrian coup d'etat by the Democratic Arab Socialist Union on April 17, the Syrian Armed Forces were reorganized as part of the formation of the Syrian Arab Republic with the newly reconstituted army being designated as the Syrian Arab Army. The army was formed from loyalist elements that backed the coup and was to be staffed with loyal citizens that were dedicated to the Ba'athist cause with political dissent being weeded out by the newly introduced political officers.
The Syrian Army remained small throughout the 1970s, estimated to have ten divisions and about 140,000 troops as of 1972 by the Royal Intelligence Agency. After the death of President Farouk al-Malki in 1981, his son and successor, Hafez al-Malki, began increasing the size of the army, believing that Syria was threatened by the Anatolian Republic, Iraq, and Hashemite Arabia. It increased to a size of 300,000 in 25 divisions by 1984, in large part through conscription that was introduced, requiring Syrian men to serve two years in the military. This led to heavy Syrian casualties during the War of the Levant that broke out in April 1984. By 1987, the number of Syrian troops had increased to 500,000, and the Syrian military took more losses than the Iraqis. When the conflict was settled, over 200,000 Syrian soldiers had been killed or missing, with the border settled essentially where it had been before the war. The Ministry of Defense was tasked with reforming the military in January 1989 to address the shortcomings that had been made apparent by the war with Iraq. The lack of standardization in equipment, modern technology for tanks, training for commanders, and lack of airpower compared to to the Iraqis were noted as major problems. Between 1990 and 2004, the Syrian leadership took steps to correct problems.
1989 reforms
Syrian National Army (2004–2022)
After the 2004 invasion of Syria, the Syrian Interim Government issued a decree in June 2004 on the creation of a new Syrian National Army. Initially, the reestablished Syrian Ministry of Defense planned for it to be an all-volunteer force, refusing to restore conscription has had been practiced by the Ba'ath government. The Coalition Military Assistance Team, led by British, Sierran, and Superian officers, was tasked with overseeing the creation of a new army. The first battalion of Syrian recruits, many of them former Free Syrian Council supporters, graduated from nine weeks of basic training in December 2004. President Abdullah al-Ayyubi attended the graduation, and announced that the government has plans to create an army of at least 200,000 within ten years. The head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Luke Oakley, issued a decree that banned former members of the Syrian Ba'ath Party from holding military positions, and so the Syrian National Army had to be recruited from those without senior military command experience.
In July 2004, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was established and replaced the Coalition Military Assistance Team in helping build the Syrian National Army. Because much of Syria had fallen into lawlessness after the invasion, the Syrian National Defense Forces were established to give the coalition additional troops quickly. They consisted of volunteers and militias on the local level, and were under the authority of ISAF commanders. This led to the creation of separate ethno-religious militias, such as those for Sunnis, Shias, Alawites, Christians, Kurds, Turkmen, and other groups. By the end of 2004, there were approximately 60,000 militiamen in the NDF, and about 20,000 in the SNA. Several of the first officers of the SNA, including the inspector general of military training, were suspended after being found passing information and supplies to the Ba'athist insurgents. In January 2005, the 1st Corps headquarters was opened in Douma, a suburb of Damascus, and it originally consisted of one armored and one motorized division.
In March 2005, the Ground Forces Command was activated in Damascus to be the senior staff of the SNA. Directly under its command were initially the Training Division, consisting of recruits undergoing training at the Damascus Military Training Center, and the Special Presidential Regiment, tasked with protecting the presidential palace and other government buildings. In November 2006, these were joined the 1st Capital Division was created to protect Damascus from attacks from the nearby countryside of the Damascus Governorate. The Ground Forces Command answered to the Ministry of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff. The National Defense Forces were officially transferred to the Syrian Ground Forces Command from the ISAF in a ceremony on August 1, 2005, which was also the founding date of the Syrian Army in 1936. With this move, the ISAF commander, Sierran general Damien Wilson, intended for the Syrian-led National Army to defeat the anti-government insurgency. The GFC was given command and control of Syrian units from the ISAF, and by the end of 2005 these were estimated to number around 100,000, including both the NDF and regular Army units.
Seven corps headquarters were established in different parts of the country between September 2005 and February 2006. These included the 1st Corps (Douma – consisting of the 2nd Reserve Armored Division, 4th Motorized Division, 9th Armored Division, and 12th Motorized Division), which was joined by the 2nd Corps (Aleppo – 3rd Motorized Division, 10th Armored Division, 16th Mechanized Division), the 3rd Corps (Deir-ez-Zor – 6th Motorized Division, 11th Armored Division, 15th Mechanized Division), the 4th Corps (Mosul – 5th Mountain Division, 8th Mechanized Division, 17th Motorized Division, 23rd Armored Division), the 5th Corps (Homs – 7th Mechanized Division, 14th Motorized Division, 18th Armored Division, 24th Coastal Division), the 6th Corps (Kirkuk – 13th Armored Division, 19th Motorized Division, 21st Mountain Division), the 7th Corps (Ramadi – 20th Mechanized Division, 22nd Armored Division), and a separate Special Operations Command headquarters, consisting of the 25th an 26th Commando Divisions. Initially the commando units were both the size of battalions, despite the name. In total, 26 divisions were created before the end of 2006, though not all of them finished forming. As of May 2007 it was estimated that 18 of the 26 were completed. By the end of 2006, the SNA was still in the process of forming its new units, including the corps and divisional commands, and was heavily dependent on the ISAF for logistics and strategic planning. In total the projected strength of the Syrian Army would be 297,000 troops when all of the units finished forming.
Syrian Arab Army (2022–present)
On October 7, 2022, the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council that oversaw all armed groups affiliated and aligned with the Syrian opposition launched a nationwide offensive known as the "Damascus offensive" due to its aim of capturing the Syrian capital of Damascus and toppeling the Second Republic. The original Syrian Arab Army was one of these armed groups and was among the largest of the opposition armed factions in the civil war that carried out most of the Ba'athist insurgency operations between 2009 to 2022. During the offensive, the SAA captured several cities and many villages at a rapid rate and began capturing provincial capitals by October. The SAA carried out the bulk of the fighting against the Syrian National Armed Forces, the western-backed Syrian military, and would capture Damascus by December 7, ending the war in a Ba'athist victory and the re-establishment of the Syrian Arab Republic. The SAA was then proclaimed to be the official standing army of Syria following the collapse of the Syrian National Army on December 7, 2022.
The Syrian Arab Army captured large quantities of equipment from the Syrian National Army and incorporated them into their new army and its ranks, consisting of both Syrian made tanks and foreign material from Western countries in the Conference of American States and European Community. The SNA's headquarters in Damascus was taken over and turned into the SAA's headquarters as well. The rapid success of the SAA and Ba'athist forces would be attributed to several factors, chief among them being a successful propaganda campaign, corruption in the SNA ranks, a lack of training and loyalty towards Damascus by many SNA personnel, tension between ethnic groups, and large quantites of ghost soldiers in the SNA ranks helped lead to its collapse and the restoration of Ba'athist rule by the end of 2022.
In January 2023 the new Syrian government declared a demobilization of conscripts from the SNA. Those that were drafted into the SNA have the option of leaving military service, or re-enlisting in the Syrian Arab Army after going through a vetting process. Members of former pro-government militias, such as the Syrian National Defense Forces (NDF), are required to return most of their weapons and equipment to the new government.